1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process of stabilizing biological and pharmaceutical products in order to protect their activity during treatment designed to inactivate viral and/or bacterial contaminants. More particularly, the invention relates to the stabilization of proteinaceous materials that are to be rendered free of biological contaminants such as viruses and the like, and especially Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) and cytomegalovirus (CMV), infectious hepatitis viruses, such as hepatitis B virus (HBV), non-A non-B hepatitis virus (NANBV), and the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HTLV III/ LAV/HIV) which causes AIDS
Biological and pharmaceutical products may be contaminated, or are suspect of being contaminated by viruses and bacteria which render them unsuitable and often quite dangerous for therapeutic use. Such contamination can be a source of contagious diseases posing great risk to the users of such products.
It is possible to inactivate the viral and bacterial contaminants in the initial or intermediate stages of production or in the final products. The inactivation procedures, however, are very harsh and usually result in a substantial loss of activity of labile biologicals and pharmaceuticals. Therefore, prior to inactivation of the contaminants, it is necessary to stabilize the biologicals and pharmaceuticals to protect their activity.
In its general aspect, this invention relates to the stabilization of biological and pharmaceutical products in the liquid or suspension state while rendering them free of viral and bacterial contaminants using thermal, chemical or irradiation methods of inactivation.
In a specific aspect, the invention relates to the production of biological and pharmaceutical products to be pasteurized in the liquid state during the manufacturing or purification process.
Liquid pasteurization is an established method for inactivating pathogenic microorganisms which contaminate products derived from biological materials, such as human plasma. Specifically, this invention relates to the use of stabilizers which prevent inactivation of proteins and allow pasteurization to be performed with minimal loss of biological and therapeutic activity. Stabilization is achieved by the addition of appropriate amounts of one or more mono-, di-, or tri-saccharides or sugar alchohols in combination with one or more neutral salts prior to pasteurization.